PDCE Policies

External Programs Advisory Committee (EPAC)

The External Programs Advisory Committee (EPAC) was established in 2004 with representation from each of the departments, the Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education (CCFI) and PDCE (formerly known as EPLT). Its mandate is to create transparent and consistent policies and procedures across the various external courses, cohorts and programs. A set of the most up-to-date policies adopted by the committee is provided below.

All External Programs and Courses

Transportation

Metro Vancouver: Instructors in off-campus programs within Metro Vancouver who are within driving distance are eligible for mileage to/from the cohort site, but cannot claim a per diem or food expense.

Outside Metro Vancouver: Instructors in off-campus programs outside Metro Vancouver will be reimbursed for transportation and per diem as applicable.

Equipment

Equipment (such as laptops, LCD projectors, etc.) will not be purchased by PDCE. Arrangement can be made with the Faculty of Education’s Computing & Media Services (CMS) for overnight loan of equipment. If CMS equipment is unavailable, PDCE should be contacted to discuss other options.

Surplus Revenue Payments (F2F Courses)

The surplus revenue will be disbursed to departments as a total for all courses offered through the specific department, rather than on a per-course basis. Distribution of surplus revenue payments will be made in one disbursement at the end of each fiscal year.

Procedures for Budget Variance

All PDCE courses/programs will have an approved budget prior to the start of the course/program. Any budget changes after approval must be submitted to PDCE as a budget variance and must be supported by an educational rationale. Variances can be submitted by email and are approved by the Department Head and Associate Dean, PDCE.

All distance education students are automatically scheduled to write their final examinations at the UBC Vancouver campus. If you are writing exams on-campus, you are not required to complete an exam application.

If students plan to write outside of the UBC Vancouver campus or are registered with Access & Diversity, you are required to complete an exam application by the deadline stated on the SSC.

M.Ed. Cohort Programs

Budget

Catering: A one-time-only fee of $29.35 per student is allowed for a cohort orientation or graduation dinner. An ongoing fee of $20 per student per year is included for catering purposes.

Instructional Budget: Number of credits: In order to provide flexibility to cohorts, the budget for a 30-credit program will include at least 39 credits that can be used for any combination of instruction, coordination and advising (i.e., at least 30 credits for instruction and up to 9 credits for advising or team teaching). This can be put to use by the department in various ways, in either a 2- or 3-year cohort. Each department will decide on a specific allocation of its resources for the 39 instruction credits available to each cohort. It is left to the department to decide whether any of these credits will be used for team teaching, 590s, etc. If necessary, the Cohort Grad Advisor may request a variance on the instruction budget line. For example, a variance may be requested for additional instructional credits for very large cohorts or for usage of instructional credits for a combination of cohort courses and other instructional purposes. The variance will require approval by the Department Head and Associate Dean, PDCE.

For a 46-48-credit program, an additional 12 credits will be allocated for use by the department.

Number of Courses: Cohort budgets are costed for 10 courses. To provide electives for students, some additional funds are allocated for enrollment in direct-instruction courses.

F2F (Off-Campus) Courses: PDCE will send an email detailing the courses offered through face-to-face off-campus to all Department Cohort Advisors prior to the term’s registration date. Department Cohort Advisors will consult with the cohort to obtain the number of cohort students planning to take the specific face-to-face off-campus courses. This information will then be communicated to PDCE for planning purposes.

When M.Ed. cohort students take face-to-face off-campus courses in the summer, there will be a payment from the cohort budget to the face-to-face off-campus budget at the per-student undergraduate credit rate.

Site Coordinator: A standard of $300 per year will be allocated as an honorarium for student program assistants and site coordinators responsible for room bookings, opening doors, operating alarms, catering setup, etc.

Payment of Cohort Expenses: For per diem and travel expenditures of $250 or greater and for all other expenditures of $100 or greater, approval must be obtained from the Graduate Advisor (email acceptable) with copy to the responsible Head. Although the Head would not be responsible for approval, his/her knowledge of the expenditure is beneficial.

PDCE Overhead: For cohorts that are 9 terms or less, the total PDCE overhead amount is 9 multiplied by the PDCE cohort overhead per term.

For cohorts that are longer than 9 terms, the total PDCE overhead amount is the number of terms multiplied by the PDCE cohort overhead per term.

Funds to Support Student Research

Research funds are available through UBC’s Office of Graduate Programs & Research (OGPR). Therefore, student research expenses will not be funded through cohort budgets.

Timing for Cohort Payouts

At the end of nine terms, cohort students become supported by the department they belong to; they are no longer supported by PDCE. All cohort accounts may be closed at this time, excluding those of students with financial hold.

Maximum Cohort Size

The number of students varies from cohort to cohort. It is the responsibility of the graduate advisor to decide on a maximum cohort size (minimum is established by point of cost recovery). Specific attention should be paid to the support required for the 590 capstone experience course.

Cohort Monograph Support

Monographs produced by a cohort and used for marketing purposes will be paid for by the cohort budget and PDCE with a 50%-50% split. This will be signed off as a variance.

General Services

It is the responsibility of the Cohort Grad Advisor to pick up Ethics forms from cohort students, deliver them to campus for approval by Department Head and return them to cohort students.

Students are to apply for library cards individually online.

Students may unsubscribe from departmental listserves should they wish not to be included. This service is not offered through PDCE.